Prior to joining Baylor, Dr. Li received his bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, while working with Dr. Dora Angelaki on spatial perception in non-human primates. He received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)where he worked with Dr. James DiCarlo on object recognition in non-human primates. He then joined Dr. Karel Svoboda’s lab at Janelia Research Campus, HHMI, as a Helen Hay Whitney postdoctoral fellow, where he developed tools and methods to study the circuit and cellular mechanisms of perceptual decisions in mice.

At Baylor, Li’s research is aimed at understanding the neural circuits involved in the planning and execution of voluntary movements. Through this work, he aims to develop a platform in which abnormalities in brain circuits underlying cognitive disorders could be quantitatively examined.